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Weight Opinion!

Hello! This is my first time posting on these boards! I would like an opinion in my daughter's weight as I am very worried and maybe for no reason?
My daughter was induced at 38 weeks due to IUGR. She was born 5 lbs 1 oz and was 17.5 inches long. Her weight before we left the hospital was 4 lbs 12 oz. she has been exclusively breastfed until recently when I started solids at the suggestion of her pediatrician. Her weights are as follows:
2 Months: 9lbs
3 Months: 9 lbs 14 oz
4 Months: 10 lbs 12 oz
5.5 Months: 12 lbs 1 oz
6 Months: 12 lbs 9 oz and 24 inches long

Around three months I started the Mirena IUD. That is when the doctor said her weight gain was not good.
I saw a second pediatrician around 5.5 months and she suggested I fortify and start solids 3 times a day! I have also noticed that my daughter has not gained weight at all in a week and I'm concerned. Should I be worried about her weight? She seems so small to all my friends babies and everyone looks at her as though she is 3 months rather than 6. What can I do to help her gain more weight?

Oh and she had about 6-8 pee diapers a day as well as poop 2-3 times a day!

Re: Weight Opinion!

She's gaining an average of 3.5 ounces a week until the last two weeks when she gained 4 for two weeks. Yes, slightly slower than average but average is just that. There's always going to be healthy children gaining a little less or more than usual.

Is there anything else worrying about her health? Slow growth in head circumference and length as well? Is she meeting milestones on time? Are you and her father bigger or smaller people or did either of you follow a similar growth pattern? What does your gut say mama?

Re: Weight Opinion!

Welcome to the forum!

Since your baby has been consistently small, the first thing I wonder about is genetics. Are you and your baby's father both smaller, more slender people? Were you on the small side when you were babies?

The second thing I wonder about is nursing frequency. How many times a day does your daughter nurse? And does she sleep through the night? One excellent way to boost a child's calorie intake is to nurse more often, and to wake a baby at night if she/he sleeps for long stretches.

Some moms find that hormonal contraception puts a damper on supply, and this can include supposedly safe for breastfeeding methods like Mirena. You might want to consider using a different contraceptive and seeing if that makes a difference. We're happy to provide suggestions, if you want them!

Re: Weight Opinion!

Okay my math maybe off so please check it, but here is what I am seeing. In the first three months of life baby gained 3 lbs. 2 oz. which averages out to .83 ounce per day.
In the second three months of life baby gained 2 lbs. 11 oz. This averages out to .71 ounce per day.
General rule of thumb is that the average gain is 1 ounce per day in the first three months and three quarters of an ounce per day in the second three months, and then about half an ounce per day in the next 3 to 6 months (I forget how long that one goes) this does not mean that every baby gains exactly that much some gain much more and some gain a little less and are still entirely healthy. It also does not mean the baby will gain exactly the same every single day. In fact that will probably never happen. Weight gain is not that consistent and that is why can be helpful to stop looking at every single weight check, and instead step back and look at the entire picture which is what I'm trying to do.
So I am saying that the numbers alone do not appear to me to be particularly alarming or indicative of poor gain. I am wondering what else baby's doctor may see or that you may see in your baby's over all health that is concerning you. Baby's behavior, developmental milestones, overall health, head growth- these are all things I would be looking at as well if I was concerned my baby was not growing normally.
I think the suggestions above are all excellent. I don't know if anyone mentioned it but you could also consider removing your IUD and trying different birth control if you truly think your milk production has been affected. Certainly it can be very beneficial to help baby get more breastmilk over all even if a baby's growth is entirely normal.
I would also suggest that if baby's gain has dropped off dramatically after starting solids then perhaps it was not The best time to start solids or they were started too aggressively. It is very difficult to replicate to the caloric intake of breastmilk with solids in fact it's basically impossible. Ounce per ounce breast milk has much more calories than most foods that are appropriate for babies. And of course if baby starts eating lots of solids that can further harm milk production as well as prevent baby from getting enough breastmilk, particularly if baby is also given water or other liquids to drink, as a baby can only hold so much at of time. Generally When a baby is showing signs of readiness for solids, it is best typically to introduce them very gradually.

Re: Weight Opinion!

Hi ladies! Thank you all for your replies!
In answer to your questions,
Her ped has no other worries besides her weight! Everything else is following a nice curve! She is also meeting her developmental milestones on time. As I type this she is attempting to army crawl everywhere and if she can't then she just rolls everywhere. It's pretty funny to watch her. So she is very active! When I do give her the solids I always make sure I nurse her first to fill her up on BM so she doesn't get a lot of her calories from solids.
Oh and as for her dad and me as babies I was smaller, born 6 lbs 7 oz and I was breastfed. My mom doesn't have weights for me throughout the year, but my older brother that was the same weight was about 14 lbs at 6 months. My husband on the other hand was 3 weeks late and weighed close to 10 lbs. But he eventually evened out and became a skinny little thing with a six pack. (That's what his mom says) haha
Right now my husband is 5'8.5 and he weighs 165. I am 5'3 and 140 lbs. I still have about 15 pregnancy pounds to loose. I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything.
Thank you ladies for your help! I really appreciate it. Oh and as for my gut: it tells me she's doing great and she is just smaller because she was born pretty small. But then I see other bigger babies and I feel like people look at her like she is way to small for her age! Thanks again ladies!

Re: Weight Opinion!

Try not to worry over much about comparing her to other babies or listen to anyone who judges her for it. My son isin the 90-100% on the charts. I've never gotten a prize for having a big kid, just a really sore back

Re: Weight Opinion!

No personal experience with ParaGard, but my understanding is that ParaGard differs from Mirena primarily in the heaviness of the periods you can expect. With Mirena, your periods may be lighter or even absent, with ParaGard they're likely to be somewhat heavier than average.

Re: Weight Opinion!

Originally Posted by @llli*zaynethepain

Try not to worry over much about comparing her to other babies or listen to anyone who judges her for it. My son isin the 90-100% on the charts. I've never gotten a prize for having a big kid, just a really sore back